L'économie pastorale face aux incertitudes*

Abstract

Le salariat au Ferlo (Sahel sé né galais) Ré suméFace aux chocs et aux incertitudes structurelles au Sahel, l'élevage transhumant a prouvé sa résilience au moyen de stratégies traditionnelles : mobilité et diversification. Aujourd'hui, 25 % des exploitations du Ferlo utilisent de la main-d'oeuvre salariée, réorganisant les tâches habituellement pratiquées à l'échelle familiale. Cet article aborde le salariat comme une stratégie qui répond aux incertitudes internes (disponibilité de maind'oeuvre) et externes (diversification des espèces et rareté des ressources naturelles) et contribue à la gestion continue du troupeau, pilier central de la sécurité alimentaire.Mots clés : changement structurel ; main d'oeuvre ; pastoralisme ; Sahel.Thèmes : économie et développement rural ; productions animales. AbstractPastoral economy facing up to uncertainties. Wage labour in the Ferlo (Senegalese Sahel)In the Sahelian context of shocks and structural uncertainties, transhumant breeding has proved its resilience by relying on traditional strategies such as mobility and diversification. Today, 25 percent of the investigated encampments of Ferlo have used a salaried workforce, renewing the delegation of tasks usually handled at the family scale. This article shows wage-labour as a strategy for copying with uncertainties inside the family (workforce availability) and outside (diversification of species and natural resource scarcity) to ensure continuity of herd management as the central pillar of pastoral food security.

Prospects for Livestock-Based Livelihoods in Africa's Drylands

“…During the feed and food price spike, there were exceptional sales of small ruminants because farmers were forced to sell more to cover their expenses (food consumption and water). The structure of sales of adult cattle could also change, with more beef offered on the markets as well as cows with calves instead of the culled cows usually sold, illustrating the weakening of the pastoral micro-economic model (Wane et al 2010). Similar effects to those in response to drought are described in Gitz and Meybeck (2012).…”

“…The close market integration of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists (Wane et al 2010) can have a negative impact on food security. Milk that was once available for household consumption-and a particularly important food for childrenmay either be sold or left for consumption by young animals to promote their growth and improved production of meat for sale.…”

The economics of pastoralism in Argentina, Chad and Mongolia

“…Pastoralists live and operate in a shock-prone environment (Wane et al, 2010). Climate variability plays a central role by having a direct impact on natural resource dynamics, pushing herders to deal with spatiotemporal variations.…”

“…Sometimes pastoralists engage in breeding livestock species with short life cycles, which provide fast gains to escape poverty (Alary et al, 2015). In other context, they favor large ruminants that represent a long-term capital investment (Wane et al, 2010) It should be noted that in a risky context, holding animals beyond a non-optimal marketing period corresponds to a form of contingency rationality. Imperfect and incomplete information in markets encourage pastoralists to adopt a prudent position, adapted to the circumstances and therefore contingent on their socioeconomic environment (Wane, 2005;Wane et al, 2010).…”

“…In other context, they favor large ruminants that represent a long-term capital investment (Wane et al, 2010) It should be noted that in a risky context, holding animals beyond a non-optimal marketing period corresponds to a form of contingency rationality. Imperfect and incomplete information in markets encourage pastoralists to adopt a prudent position, adapted to the circumstances and therefore contingent on their socioeconomic environment (Wane, 2005;Wane et al, 2010). This explains why pastoralists are not in favor of regular animal "destocking" even if technical services encourage them to do so.…”